Waterford & Lismore NET Team

2016-2017

Mid Year Report

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 3

SECTION 1: MINISTRY ............................................................................................................ 3

Parish Ministry .............................................................................................................................. 3

School Ministry ............................................................................................................................. 3

Diocesan Ministry .......................................................................................................................... 3

Regular Diocesan Events ...................................................................................................................... 3

Pro-Life Conference .............................................................................................................................. 3

Youth 2000 ........................................................................................................................................... 4

Street Ministry ...................................................................................................................................... 4

Year of Mercy Mass .............................................................................................................................. 4

Diocesan Clergy Conference ................................................................................................................. 4

Holy Family Mission Team .................................................................................................................... 4

Young Adult Coffee Group .................................................................................................................... 4

SECTION 2: LOGISTICS ............................................................................................................ 5

Household ..................................................................................................................................... 5

Vehicle Maintenance ..................................................................................................................... 5

SECTION 3: FOUR OBJECTIVES OF YOUTH MINISTRY ............................................................... 6

OBJECTIVE 1: Outreach To Young People ........................................................................................ 6

OBJECTIVE 2: Disciple Young People ............................................................................................... 6

OBJECTIVE 3: Form Leaders ............................................................................................................ 6

OBJECTIVE 4: Create a link between Parish, Families & Schools ....................................................... 6

CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 7

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INTRODUCTION

The main purpose of this document is to give an overall synopsis of our ministry as the Waterford & Lismore

NET Team, as well as direction for where we plan to take the ministry over the next half of the year. This

document, along with the Waterford & Lismore NET ministry charter, should give a complete scope of current

team activities. We hope to show how the four objectives of Local ministry were ever present in our planning

of all current ministry events.

These four Objectives are as follows:

1. Outreach

2. Disciple Young People

3. Form Leaders

4. Create a link between Parish, Families and Schools

We will do this by identifying parish ministry, school ministry plus any miscellaneous ministry we have been

involved in. This report will also cover some of the logistics involved in the running of a local team.

SECTION 1: MINISTRY

Parish Ministry

Our parish ministry has been a great opportunity to encounter lots of different people from the community.

We have been speaking at multiple masses in different parishes to share our mission and meet the

congregations. We have met and networked with different parish councils. For example, the parish council at

Sts. Joseph and Benildus invited us to attend meetings to share about what we are doing and present them

with ideas of what we can do for youth in their parishes. We have enjoyed the opportunity to meet many

different people in the community, and we have had received great responses to our ministry.

School Ministry

Over the past few months we have worked with a local retreat team to minister to the third year boys from De

La Salle College. We have lead religious classes at Blackwater Community School in Lismore and we also just

finished a week of day-long retreats with the Ardscoil na Mara in Tramore with a great group of second years!

In the New Year we have many schools who have confirmed retreat dates and are interested in having us

come to their schools.

Diocesan Ministry

While in Waterford, we have been able to get involved with several diocese-wide events.

Regular Diocesan Events

Mass and coffee morning at St John's Church in town on Wednesdays as well as Divine Mercy devotions and

refreshments at Sacred Heart Church each Friday. Both of these events allow us to meet people of all ages

from our community. We have made great connections with these people.

Pro-Life Conference

During the year we attended a pro-life conference evening at the Tower Hotel. We met many people who are

active in this ministry in our area as well as hearing about the work that is going on in Waterford.

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Youth 2000

We regularly attend a Youth 2000 prayer group on Fridays in Dungarvan, and we have started our own on

Wednesdays at St. Paul's Church, Lisduggan. These have been opportunities to encounter young people as well

as young adults who are looking for ministry.

We attended the Munster Youth 2000 retreat, and as well as attending the fantastic talks and prayer times,

the team was able help out with welcoming retreatants and leading a drama.

Street Ministry

We have been working to meet our goal of doing regular street ministry and increasing in confidence in street

ministry. This ministry has given us opportunities to meet people outside of Church events and live out our

Christian faith by being living witnesses.

Year of Mercy Mass

Following this we joined Archbishop Charles Brown, Papal Nuncio of Ireland, for an evening of prayer for the

end of the Year of Mercy at the cathedral in Waterford. Our team felt very honoured to be welcomed by His

Excellency to the congregation during his address and enjoyed meeting with him and other parishioners

afterwards.

Diocesan Clergy Conference

We also gave a presentation about our ministry at the Diocesan Clergy Conference. This was very well

received, and we had great feedback from the priests. We were able to join the priests afterwards for Mass

and lunch.

Holy Family Mission Team

The team has been able to join the new Holy Family Mission Team at Glencomeragh House on several

occasions. We attended their 'grand opening' in December which was a joyous occasion lead by Bishop

Phonsie and Archbishop Charles Brown.

Young Adult Coffee Group

We have established a young adults coffee group, a prayer group, and have been a witness to our faith. The

coffee group provides a good place for students and young adults to take a break from their usual routine and

have fun with their peers. Being a team made up of Irish and internationals provides a great example of the

universality of the Catholic faith. This has allowed young adults to find community in their faith.

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SECTION 2: LOGISTICS

Household

Our household budget always more than meets our needs. The budget of €200 each week is split between a

gift card for the supermarket and cash for food and household expenses. We are fortunate that we do not

have to pay for fuel out of this budget as a separate fuel account has been set up for the team.

We are very grateful to Bishop Phonsie for opening his house to us this year. We enjoy sharing the house with

him and have great opportunities to include him in our team meals and time together. We often share a

Sunday meal together along with other dinner guests such as priests and religious from the diocese. Some

memorable meals are our Canadian and American Thanksgiving dinners!

We have made great connections with the Apostles of the Sacred Heart: 3 Sisters recently moved in to a house

just down the street from us. We often share meals and community time with them. Many priests and lay

people on the diocese have also welcomed us for dinner to share fellowship together.

Vehicle Maintenance

Our team has been given a Toyota Avensis for the year. It did give us a couple of small problems at the start,

but now the car is a great blessing to our team. Having the car allows us to minister across the Waterford-

Lismore Diocese.

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SECTION 3: FOUR OBJECTIVES OF YOUTH MINISTRY

OBJECTIVE 1: Outreach To Young People

To engage with young people in the parish and schools between the ages of 12-25 faithfully

witnessing to the person of Jesus Christ and calling others to follow Him.

Whether it's in a cafe, a shop, or in the park, we try to engage with young people wherever we are. This has

led to meeting many young people over the last few months. We hope to continue evangelising through our

events and street evangelization in the second half of the year. We see great potential in the youth and young

adults who attend our events and we look forward to continuing to journey with them after Christmas. We

also intend to introduce more events which can help young people embrace their faith and find confidence

and support in us and their peers.

OBJECTIVE 2: Disciple Young People

To encourage and facilitate the growth of young people’s faith and intentionally form disciples.

Since arriving here we have been able to find young people to disciple in different ways. Bishop Phonsie has

put us in touch with some youth, and we have met a few people through home and school visits. Some have

approached us wanting to help and be part of our effort, and others we have met through phone calls from a

database of people who had previously gone to events similar to the ones we would be holding. We now hope

to keep in contact with such people to encourage them in their faith and invite them to our events.

OBJECTIVE 3: Form Leaders

To empower and equip youth and young adults for leadership roles in ministry.

We are constantly on the lookout for young leaders in the community. Through the prayer group, school visits

and religion classes we have identified potential leaders in the community. While we haven't put on many

events or activities that focus around leadership, we are encouraging people to get involved and be a part of

the ministry we are working to form.

OBJECTIVE 4: Create a link between Parish, Families & Schools

To create a sense of belonging & giving the young people a place to serve and grow within the

Church

The youth we have encountered in Waterford have been wonderful, and we have enjoyed getting to know

them and journey with them in their lives and their faith. We are starting to create links between the team and

different parishes and schools in the Diocese. We hope to create more avenues in which to empower youth

with increased responsibility in the very near future. As we continue to get to know the young people and

their strengths and weakness, we will be more readily able to identify areas where they may be interested in

serving and expanding their knowledge and faith.

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CONCLUSION

We are very thankful for the help and support that has been provided to the team since we have arrived in

Waterford. Without the help of Bishop Phonsie, Fr. Pat Fitzgerald, Fr. Liam Power, Sr. Antoinette, Mary Dee,

and dozens of others we would not have had the opportunity to minister to as many young people as we have

so far this year.

We are very much looking forward to the second half of the year where we hope to continue to grow our

ministry, particularly the youth and young adult’s groups. We are looking forward to continuing the journey

with the people of Waterford & Lismore.

Many Thanks,

The 2016/17 Waterford & Lismore NET Team